[Aquakleen Restoration Services]

They look ok Derek but they use terminals, with the other company you can use your mobile phone

[derek west]

if your a member of the fsb or similar i'm sure they do deals with the big companies and get you discounts, think they will be terminal based as well though, theres also elavon merchant services, last time i contacted them it was £175 reistration fee then £25 per month plus 1.8% per trans visa and 30p per trans debit. depending on anual usage, something like that.
derek

[MAX Carpets]

just use paypal.

[stevegunn]

Just got one through FSB £23.50 a month for a mobile terminal in the process of getting all leaflets,websites and business cards changed to include the fact we accept credit/debit cards.Converted 4 jobs this month as they were going to wait till the end of the month until I said I take credit cards jobs booked.

[daysdeepclean]

just use paypal.

How exactly would that take place?

If I had the plumber round and he asked me to pay him via paypal, I would think that it would be an absolute waste of time.... If he produced a terminal, I pop my card in typed in my pin.... Job done!

Paypal take a good chunk too don't they?

[derek west]

my own personal view.
paypal a bit mickey mouse. just my personal opinion so don't take offence.

think steve has just answered the question in one.

"it works"

time to join the fsb me thinks, and there alliance and leicester based if i remember rightly, "champion"

cheers steve

derek

[Mike Halliday]

Steve can you give the full cost details, I'm with the FSB and was thinking of going through them.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

2 types of paying by card. One is to authorise it in front of customer. That's the expensive method.

(2 lots of monthly fees as well. Terminal rental and minimum charge for processing transactions.)

Secondly you take their card details and process the transaction when you get back home. The terminal is a lot cheaper but the transaction costs are higher as this is deemed a "card holder not present" transaction" and which are always considered more risky.


Paypal also has it's limitations although I can't remember exactly what they were since I looked into it a few months ago. I think from memory to have a half-decent pay pal account for what you want (eg needs to be in your business name to continue with the idea of looking professional) the costs start to come out about the same as going down on of the major providers of these machines. You also still have the problem of people wondering if you are harvesting their personal information as you will still need to take their info away to process or worse still wait for them to remember to pay you. (And I bet we would all wait for all our wonderful clients to simply pay us!)
Benefits of paying by card are that custy MAY spend more with you, and also the funds are guaranteed (no bouncing cheques).

Funds are also electronically credited to your account so in many cases will lower bank charges. they also appear as cleared funds so can be used straight away. If you get everybody to pay you that way it'll also save on having to make a special trip to the bank and possibly queue up inside, so it's more time efficient.

There are a few other "hidden" costs to also consider like disputed transactions/charge-backs etc. There is usually also a minimum charge based on the level of activity on the machine.

If you went for the second, cheaper option your customer may not be happy about you walking away with their card details although that is in effect little difference to you capturing the info when authorising it in front of them or indeed  taking their bank details off their cheque.


Paranoia rules ssh I'm not telling you

[clinton]

Hi doc

So some sort of insurance is needed then i guess

What happens if the terminal gets stolen

[Joe H]

Derek

FSB are Cooperative Bank based.
Free banking and £25 per year loyalty bonus thro FSB

[derek west]

joe
could of swarn he said i could get free something or other with a&l.
oh well
derek

[Joe H]

Alliance and Leicester do free business banking I believe.

http://www.fsb.org.uk/default.aspx?id=2&loc=FSBbenefits

[elliott cleaning]

I have accepted debit/credit cards for the last ten years.

When a customer hasn't got the cash to hand the question I am always asked is 'Will you take a cheque?'.   Answer: 'Yes, cheque, debit or credit card, whichever suits you best'.
99% of the time they will then pay by cheque.

This idea of 'buy now- pay later' mentioned above is a misconception.   Ask yourselves why the retail sector is presently in such dire straits.  All of us piling into the stores & flashing our credit cards around???
People are worried about next week, month.   For a decade the man in the street has amassed a trillion pounds worth of debt and now with the notorious so called 'credit crunch' it's pay back time.
Don't expect offering card payment to make a big difference to your turnover

[Simon@arenaclean]

Thanks for all the comments. I'll check out the links in the thread. As I said I have considered this for a long time so I am not leaping yet, but it is another service I can offer my customers to make life easier. Interesting about FSB will look into that also.

Thanks
Simon

[stevegunn]

Steve can you give the full cost details, I'm with the FSB and was thinking of going through them.

We have different prices depending if the carpet cleaners are members of the FSB as you are. I have attached the 2 different prices we have. We can also set them up with the merchant account through streamline and there is no charge for this but again the transaction charges will be different if the client is a member of the FSB.


You can pass on my e-mail address and my direct number as well to anyone that wants to call me for any more information. My direct number is 020 7592 7771
Dan Veasey <DanVeasey@123send.net>

[stevegunn]

Standard tariff

[stevegunn]

123 brochure

[hotsteam]

 how long do you have to wait for the money from the credit card company ?

Also say you have cleaned the whole house of someone moving out say for £500 paid for on a stolen credit card you will not get paid.
Regards Hotsteam  :

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

how long do you have to wait for the money from the credit card company ?

Also say you have cleaned the whole house of someone moving out say for £500 paid for on a stolen credit card you will not get paid.
Regards Hotsteam  :

No different to somebody trying to pay you with forged cash or stolen cq book or bouncing cheque.
Moral of the story use common sense and check signatures on cards/ask for extra ID

[daysdeepclean]

I remembered to ask a custy today that if I accepted credit/debit card, would they use it... "Yes, I hate having to go to the bank for cash.... in fact I would have got you to do the whole house a put it on credit card!!!"

I'll obviously be asking the same question for the next few months before I decide to accept the "Fantastic Plastic"